Many Duggar fans would have predicted that Jana Duggar would be the first to fly the nest — after all, she is Jim Bob and Michelle‘s oldest daughter. Several of her younger siblings have married and started families of their own while Jana remains at home, and now that she’s 34, some people are starting to worry that she’s no longer single by choice. In fact, some Duggar critics have a theory that Jana’s parents are actively working against her when it comes to finding a potential partner and moving out.
Jana recently made an unexpected return to social media.
After more than two years of radio silence, on May 9 Jana shared a post on Instagram. She didn’t make any big reveals — the video is just showing off her blooming spring garden — but the fact that she’s posting again at all was enough to make people curious about what’s going on in her life these days.
The Duggar family has always placed a heavy emphasis on marrying young.
Those who tuned into 19 Kids & Counting and Counting On when the reality shows still aired on TLC already know that the Duggars don’t date — they court. Through courtship, they’re essentially working toward marriage from day one (while supervised, of course). Duggar daughters typically get married in their very early 20s and don’t waste much time starting their families, so when Jana’s 20s came and went without a courtship, a lot of people began wondering why.
Now, some critics are worried that Jana isn’t single by choice.
On the popular Duggar subreddit, r/DuggarsSnark, fans shared their concern that Jana might be forced to continue living with her parents at this point.
“Jana is free childcare. I would be surprised if they weren’t actively standing in the way of her getting married,” one person wrote.
Another commenter added, “I will speculate that she is now homeschooling the M’s and runs interference between Jim Bob and Michelle since the arrest and incarceration. She is likely Michelle’s best friend since people have ditched the Duggars for a good reason.”
Some people speculated that it was never the plan for Jana to get married.
“From my understanding in these cults [it’s] normal for the eldest daughter to remain at home as elder care. I don’t think her being single is necessarily her choice,” one person wrote.
At least one more person agreed, commenting, “It is not uncommon for these types [of] families to have a daughter remain single to take care of the parents [in] old age.”
Jana has always maintained that she does plan to get married — at least, the last time we heard from her on the subject.
In 2020, Jana told Us Weekly that although she did “long” to be married, she wasn’t going to rush it.
“Yes, I long to be married and one day I think that will come, but I think … I’m just also just trying to stay busy with whatever comes along my path,” she said.